A 42-year-old Wichita man who kicked his girlfriend 20 to 30 times with steel-toed boots will be sentenced in August for first-degree murder in her death.

A Sedgwick County jury on Thursday convicted Anson Bernhardt for the September death of 38-year-old Amber Kostner, who was still breathing when Bernhardt left her on the side of a road in Wichita.

The Wichita Eagle reports that during the trial, jurors watched Bernhardt admit the crime to sheriff's deputies.

Prosecutors said Bernhardt kicked Kostner after the two had quarreled in a bar about breaking up. Defense attorneys did not dispute that Bernhardt killed Kostner but had argued for a lesser charge, saying the death was not intentional or premeditated.